Philadelphia 76ers (3) vs. Miami Heat (6)
The Philadelphia 76ers are probably locked into the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. I wouldn’t count on a breakdown from the Boston Celtics over the last few weeks of the season that would help the Sixers jump up to the No. 2 seed. But in order for this first-round matchup to come to complete fruition, the Miami Heat have some ground to make up.
Currently, the Heat is the seventh seed in the East. But they’re only a couple of games back of the sixth seed. And there’s a chance that the Brooklyn Nets could fall down a bit over the final few weeks of the season. If the Heat can get hot over the next few weeks and overtake the Nets, we could see a beauty of a first-round matchup between the Sixers and Heat.
The Heat and Sixers have played in the playoffs twice in the last five years and if they meet again in the postseason this year, that will be three in the last six. If you remember last season, the Heat beat the Sixers in six games in what was a somewhat disappointing showing for Philadelphia.
They’ll be looking to return the favor against the Heat this season with a revamped supporting cast and, hopefully, a healthy dynamic duo. A Sixers-Heat rematch would be excellent playoff theater.